Aren't images I've paid for automatically mine?
Aren't images I've paid for automatically mine?
According to UK intellectual property law any creative works are automatically copyrighted to the creator, except for in circumstances where the creator is an employee creating the work under his or her employment. Copyrights can be reassigned only by stating this explicitly in writing, though most professional photographic bodies and agencies strongly advise against transferring copyright.
It is important to note that you still have rights over the images, you paid for them and the fact that you don't own the copyright doesn't mean you have been undersold; copyright is only one of the ways in which a person has rights over the images, and copyright is the only right which the photographer is permitted to retain.